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Boundary Zonal Flow (BZF) in rotating turbulent convection

ORAL

Abstract

We report the discovery and overall properties of a wall-localized mode of turbulent, rotating thermal convection, denoted as a boundary zonal flow (BZF). We use both direct numerical simulation and experimental measurements to investigate the BZF mode that emerges strongly in cylindrical cells with diameter to height ratios $\Gamma < 1$ and that appears to play a similar role for rotating convection as does the large scale circulation (LSC) of non-rotating convection. The coherent precessing structure of the BZF is manifest in bimodal temperature distributions and in very significant concentration of vertical heat transport near the boundary. The consequences of the BZF for the study of turbulent rotating thermal convection are discussed.

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Authors

  • Eberhard Bodenschatz

    Max Planck Insitute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

  • Xuan Zhang

    Max Planck Institute f. Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Max Planck Insitute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

  • Dennis Van Gils

    University Twente, University of Twente

  • Susanne Horn

    Coventry University

  • Marcel Wedi

    Max Planck Institute f. Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Max Planck Insitute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

  • Lukas Zwirner

    Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Max Planck Institute f. Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Max Planck Insitute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

  • Guenter Ahlers

    University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California at Santa Barbara

  • Robert Ecke

    Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Stephan Weiss

    Max Planck Institute f. Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Max Planck Insitute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

  • Olga Shishkina

    Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen, Max Planck Insitute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Max-Planck Institut